No-fishing zone plans scaled back

Associated Press

Published Saturday, June 23, 2001

Plans to add more no-fishing zones off the southeastern United States have been scaled back in the wake of complaints from charter-boat operators, commercial fishermen and others who earn livings from the sea.

An advisory committee to the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council removed several popular fishing grounds from its list of sites being considered for fishing restrictions. The full council approved the recommendations Friday.

The council, which sets fishing rules in federal waters from the Florida Keys through the Carolinas, is trying to help depleted fish stocks recover by creating a network of protected areas.

The list of 42 potential sites drew heavy criticism when it was released last month. On Thursday, the committee voted to recommend removing several of the most contested, including virtually all of the proposed sites off subtropical South Florida and four of the five off the North Carolina coast.

Areas recommended for removal from the list include Carysfort Reef off Key Largo, near a national marine sanctuary, and the region south of Fowey Rocks near Biscayne National Park, southeast of Miami.

The group did not make any changes off the South Carolina coast and wanted more information before making recommendations in Georgia.

The council, however, said it would follow the recommendations made by the Grays Reef National Marine Sanctuary in Georgia.

Fishing-industry representatives saw the committee recommendations as a victory and environmentalists saw it as a loss.

''Boy, did we get slam-dunked,'' said Jeff Torode, a dive-boat operator and member of a committee trying to create a marine protected area in the state waters off Fort Lauderdale.

Environmentalists noted that the process of creating protected marine areas continued to move forward, despite the recommendation that so many areas come off the list.

Fishermen are still wary of future restrictions, even though they appeared to win support for keeping some of their favorite areas open.